Happy Tax Day! See what you know about tax freedom, candy taxes and more

On this April 15, between running to the post office to send off your taxes or dreaming of ways to spend your tax return, here's a tax day quiz to test your knowledge of the only thing as certain in life as death...

"Tax Freedom Day" is the nickname for the day that marks where Americans are no longer symbolically working to pay all federal, state and local taxes for the year. Out of the four choices given, Mississippi had the earliest "Tax Freedom Day," which hit on March 29 and tied with Louisiana. Texas' occurred on April 10, Utah's on April 13 and Connecticut came in last in the nation on May 13.

* Tax Foundation Facts & Figures 2014

Associated Press

Which state ranked the best on the State Business Tax Climate Index 2014, as of July 2013?

A. South Dakota

B. Nevada

C. Utah

D. Wyoming

Associated Press

D. Wyoming

Wyoming took the first spot in the overall ranking, corporate tax, and individual income tax categories. Nevada came in third in the overall ranking, Utah came in ninth and South Dakota came in second.

California's state gasoline tax totaled 52.47 cents per gallon as of January 1, 2014, putting it in the No. 1 spot out of all 50 states. Hawaii came in at No. 4, with 49.11 cents per gallon; Utah was near the middle at No. 29 with 24.50 cents per gallon and New Jersey came in at No. 49 with 14.50 cents per gallon.

The current federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon, which goes on top of the state gas tax.

* Tax Foundation, American Petroleum Institute

Associated Press

Which state has the highest state cigarette excise tax rate (dollars per 20-pack) as of January 1, 2014?

A. Washington

B. New York

C. Massachusetts

D. Colorado

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

B. New York

New York leads the way in the state cigarette excise tax rates at $4.35 per 20-pack. Massachusetts comes in second at $3.51 while Washington comes in sixth at $3.025. Colorado falls toward the middle as No. 33 at $0.84.

New York's taxes on cigarettes have helped make the state the No. 1 hotspot for smuggled cigarette consumption, The Washington Post reported in March. According to data from the Tax Foundation, 56.9 percent of cigarettes consumed in New York are smuggled in.

Interestingly, 27.7 percent of cigarettes consumed in Utah are also smuggled in, along with 51.5 percent in Arizona, 48.1 percent in New Mexico and 14.1 percent in Colorado. Nevada, Idaho and Wyoming all have outputs, meaning cigarettes are smuggled out of those states.

* Tax Foundation; RJ Reynolds; state revenue departments

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Which state has the highest state and local cell phone tax rate, as of July 1, 2013?

A. llinois

B. Washington

C. Utah

D. Oregon

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B. Washington

Washington leads the way in state and local cell phone tax rates, with an average rate of 18.60 percent. Illinois' rate is 15.81 percent, Utah's rate is 12.61 percent and Oregon's rate is the lowest in the country at 1.79 percent.

* Tax Foundation; Scott Mackey, KSE Partners, LLP, based on Methodology from Council on State Taxation, 50-State Study and Report on Telecommunications Taxation, May 2005.

Shutterstock

In which state is candy NOT treated as groceries for tax purposes?

A. Utah

B. California

C. Texas

D. Ohio

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C. Texas

Effective September 1, 2013, snack items in Texas were redefined as a "food product." These snack items include everything from breakfast bars to yogurt bars, nuts, popcorn, chips, crackers and hard pretzels. However, nuts and breakfast/sports/granola bars do not count as food products if they are labeled and marketed as candy or are candy-coated.

* Tax Foundation, window.state.tx.us

Associated Press

In which state is pop/soda NOT treated as groceries for tax purposes?

A. New York

B. Wyoming

C. Massachusetts

D. Utah

Associated Press

A. New York

Mayor Bloomberg's 16-ounce soda ban may have been nixed, but there's still no love lost for soda in New York — out of the four states listed, it's the only one that doesn't treat it as groceries for tax purposes. Out of the 50 states, about 23 count soda as groceries. Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon don't have sales taxes, which settles the candy/soda grocery issue without debate.

* Tax Foundation

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Which state had the highest state debt per capita in fiscal year 2012?

A. Alaska

B. Connecticut

C. California

D. Massachusetts

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D. Massachusetts

Massachusetts leads the way in state debt per capita—or at least it did in 2012—with $12,042 in debt per capita. Connecticut followed in second place with $8,908, Alaska was in fourth at $8,121 and California came out in the sixteenth spot at $4,036.

Utah, in 2012, ranked 34th in debt per capita at $2,493.

* U.S. Census Bureau; Tax Foundation

Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News

Which state had the highest income per capita in calendar year 2012?

A. New York

B. North Dakota

C. Connecticut

D. Wyoming

Associated Press

C. Connecticut

Although the Washington, D.C., area actually has the highest income per capita at $74,773, the question said "state," so that's where we'll look:

Connecticut came in first at $59,687, North Dakota (thanks to its ongoing oil boom) came in fourth at $54,871, New York came in sixth at $53,241 and Wyoming came in seventh at $50,567.

Utah ranked as No. 46 at $35,430.

* Bureau of Economic Analysis via the Tax Foundation

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Which state had the most people per household in 2012?

A. Hawaii

B. Utah

C. Georgia

D. Idaho

Deseret News

B. Utah

If you didn't guess Utah, you were probably over-thinking the question...

Utah led the way in people per household by state with 3.14 people in 2012, up from 3.13 in 2011. Hawaii was the only other state to cross the 3-point threshold in 2012, with 3.01 people per household. Georgia had 2.73 people and Idaho had 2.69 people in 2012. The area with the lowest number of people per household wasn't a state at all, but rather Washington, D.C., at 2.22 people per household.